Adam Walker wrote:
>I have a question about the English adj.
>old-fashioned. In my usage it (about equally often)
>implies either "old, out-of-sytle and/or
>no-longer-useful" or
>"the-way-they-did-it-back-when-they-knew-how-to-do-it-right".
> In other words, it has either a negative OR a
>positive connotation.
>
>Her style is very old-fashioned. = She's out of step
>with the times and needs to up-date her look.
>
>All I want is some old-fashioned service. = No one
>today remembers how to give proper service, so I want
>it they way it used to be done.
>
>Now, when I looked old-fashioned up in my Spanish
>dictionary it gives
>
>anticuado, de modo pasado
>
>
That should say 'pasado de moda'
moda = fashion
modo = manner, way
>My first reaction is "Those both cary a negative
>connotation." Of course I don't know that for sure.
>My dictionary doesn't say. So my question is CAN
>either of them carry a positive connotation?
>
>
no.
>Part of the problem is that the English cognate,
>antiquated really is negative. I can't think of a
>positive-connotation usage for it. _De modo pasado_
>doesn't sound particularly friendly to the poor past
>either.
>
>Latin has _priscus_ and _antiquus_ which according to
>their definitions look like both may have had a rather
>positive feel.
>
>What about other Romance or European languages. How
>do they express "old-fashioned" in the good or longing
>sense?
>
>ADam
>
Spanish also has colloquial 'chapado a la antigua'
chapado = past participle of 'chapar' = to cover, to plate with
silver and gold, to veneer
a la antigua = in the old fashioned way
'a la antigua' does not have negative connotations
David Barrow